Historical Context in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

"And southward aye we fled...."See in text(The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in Seven Parts)

So far, this poem has consisted of four-line stanzas, called quatrains, with a rhyme structure of ABCB. Coleridge deliberately breaks this style in this stanza and in several other places later on to demonstrate that he values content and meaning more than form and structure. This is significant because this poem and the larger collection it was published in, Lyrical Ballads, marked a significant transition in writing style away from classical poetic elements to the more modern, Romantic period in British literature.

Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor

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